I wasn't a giant fan of "The Guest" at first... But I could tell there was some sort of meaning behind it... Basically I was texting my good buddy Danielle before she picked me up for work on Sunday, and she said it was weird. So I read it, and agreed. The weird factor was both off-putting and intriguing however.
Rather than go on about how we learned about existentialism in class and it was sooo cool and cause me to understand the story sooo much better (because Mr. Mullins said that's obnoxious, and what's the point in pissing off my English teacher?), I'll just focus on the topic itself; I think it's pretty cool.
So I'd heard the word existentialism before, but it was something I didn't know the actual definition of. Maybe I'm slow, who knows. But since we talked about it in class, it's fascinated me to no end. Thinking about it, we all are a bit selfish, aren't we? You can apply it to most anything! It really bothered me at first since I've grown up in a culture where it's socially unacceptable to be an openly selfish person (I even talked to one of my friends about this lesson, and she got rather annoyed, since she sees herself as a very selfless person), but I see how we embrace it everyday. Of course, like many theories about how we are and why we do what we do, there are some holes, but the basis is extremely interesting.
Being selfish though: why do we consider it so bad? What about it makes people so offended when they're labeled it? Do we as a society give it such strong meaning because of our outward distaste? I think I'm going to look into this much more, just because it's something that's been stuck in my mind for DAYS.
That's my goal as a teacher, actually: to install this permanent voice in the back of your brain that you'll never be rid of...
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